Born Andrew Armandoz Benavidez in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Pixley joined the U.S. Army after being charged with passing bad checks.

He was accused and cleared of being in possession of a stolen car in Davenport, Washington, two weeks before the murders.

[6] He had been living in a trailer with two employees of the hotel where the murders took place, David Starling and Orval Edwards.

[7] On the night of August 7, 1964, Pixley broke into a room of the Wort Motor Hotel[8] in Jackson, Wyoming, occupied by the family of Illinois Circuit Court Judge Robert McAuliffe, who were on vacation.

[7][8] Pixley had apparently climbed a stack of wood and scaled the rear wall of the hotel,[9] removing a screen to get in at the window.

[13] Their parents later filed suit against the hotel in order to pay for the surviving child's psychiatric treatment.

"[14] Hotel employee Richard Southern testified that Pixley cited his Native American heritage in explaining why he "couldn't" have done such a thing.

[17] The psychiatrist went on to describe Pixley as "one of the sickest we've ever seen sociopathically", and that the odds of him being rehabilitated were "absolutely nil".

[17] Pixley pleaded guilty to first degree murder for killing Debbie and was sentenced to death.